Proto Nharqot
see also: Proto Onpotcor-Qhalqon Swadesh Lists Proto Nharqot (ɴarqot) was a language in the Onpotcor-Qhalqon family. It was spoken around the year 1000BEA by the Nharqot, a breakaway group of Qhalqon who migrated to the northwest following island chains out of the Intacar region. Phonology Consonants Note that there technically is no distinction between r and l, as r only appears at the end of a syllable and l only at the beginning. Doubled consonants are geminates, which hare only allowed between syllables. L does not have a geminate form, though r does. Vowels The vowels in parenthesis are the lax forms, which appear in open syllables, with the main forms appearing in closed syllables. Proto Nharqot also has the following diphthongs: *ae *ai *ao *ea *ia *io *ou *ua *ue *ui Phonotactics The syllable structure in Proto Nharqot was CV(V)© where C equals any consonant, and V any vowel. Any consonant combination is allowed over syllable breaks, as are geminiates, which take up bot the final consonant in the first syllable and the initial in the second. Stress Stress is on the first syllable if it is an closed syllable, and on the second if the first syllable is open. Grammar Nouns Like other members of its family, Proto Nharqot lacks cases, and instead uses word order to determine a noun's role in a sentence. Plurals Like the other languages of the Onpotcor-Qhalqon family, Proto Nharqot has several different forms of plurals, including a specific plural system that uses numbers as plural affixes. Plurals are mandatory on human based nouns, and optional on all other nouns. The paucal is used for small amounts, or unexpectedly small amounts, while the greater plural is used for large amounts or unexpectedly large amounts. (Such as two eclipses in one day) The general plural is used for an unspecified number of objects but more than one, or for a number inbetween that which would take the paucal or greater. Pronouns Proto Nharqot has the following pronouns: Note that gender is not distinguished. The plural forms are the same as with all other nouns. The 4th person pronoun is used either as a dummy object pronoun to force a class 2 usage of a verb, as the subject to indicate the passive form, or just as a generic pronoun like the English "one" or "someone." Also, like its relatives, Proto Nharqot is pro-drop. Articles and Demonstratives Proto Nharqot lacks any sort of articles and only has a single demonstrative which does not make any distance or plural distinctions, zaik zaik. Numbers As mentioned earlier, the Proto Nharqot numbers are treated as plural prefixes, and a noun used with a number does not need an additional plural prefix, even if it is a human-based noun. Unlike some of its relatives, Proto Nharqot does not have much in the way of a true number system, however. *1: vet vet *2: vop vop *3: vuŋ vuŋ *4: vap vap *5: nipuk nɪpuk (from hand) ... more? ... Adjectives/Adverbs Adjectives/adverbs are formed from nouns by adding the suffix qa qə. Verbs Most Proto Nharqot verbs are created by taking a noun and possibly adding a class marker. Class Proto Nharqot verbs have 5 different classes, each of which have somewhat different meanings. Classes 1-3 take no endings on the verb, and are distinguished by word order in the case of classes 1 and 2, and by the presence of a reflexive pronoun for classes 2 and 3. Classes 4 and 5 meanwhile have specific suffixes to distinguish them. * Class 1, normally used for intransitive verbs, with some exceptions. Word order is VSO * Class 2, normally used to transitive verbs. Word order is OVS. * Class 3, normally used for reflexive verbs. Word order is OVS, with reflexive pronoun. * Class 4, used to mean "to be 'state'". Word order is OVS, and verb ending is qa. qə * Class 5, used to mean "to be 'object'". Word order is OVS, and verb ending is lai. laɪ The difference between class 4 and class 5 is the difference between adjectives and nouns, with class 4 being used with adjectives and class 5 with nouns. All of the class markers are suffixes on the verb. Note that class 1 and class 2 verbs can take reflexive objects as well, but if they do, the reflexive pronoun follows the subject. In class 3, the reflexive pronoun always precedes the verb. Class 2 verbs that take two objects place the direct object before the verb, and the indirect object after the subject. A class two verb used reflexively places the dummy pronoun ku kʊ in the first object position. Tense In contrast to the mood system, the tense system of Proto Nharqot is quite simple, with only a past, present and future tense. * sot sot: Past * sof sof: Present * ŋv ŋiv: Future The tense markers are prefixes, and can be dropped if they can be understood from context. The present tense marker only really used for emphasizing the fact that something is happening now, generally it is left out, even without any context. Moods Like the other Onpotcor-Qhalqon languages, Proto Nharqot has a complex mood system. All moods can be stacked if necessary, particularly the necessitative, desiderative, and relative moods. The order in which the mood prefixes are placed when they are stacked is the same as in the table from top to bottom. Negative Verbs are negated by adding the prefix ta tə. Order The order of the affixes on the verb are as follows: Postpositions Proto Nharqot postpositions are sometimes formed from nouns directly with no change or from adjectives minus the adjective ending, and they can also be used as verbs to indicate something is in the state of the postposition. (As in "The cat is in the tree".) These verbs take the class 2 ending. Some commons postpositions and their meanings: *'qat' qat: in, on *'sak' sak: inside, within *'sef' sef: outside of *'qot' qot: below, under *'qos' qos: above *'pat' pat: to the left of *'laŋ' laŋ: to the right of *'tao' taɔ: (together) with *'lua' luə: With, using Word Order Basic word order is OVS/VSO with direct objects generally in the first object slot and indirect objects in the second. Adjectives/adverbs and postpositions precede the word they modify. N